The Primal Hunter

Jake looked at the upgraded skill with a bit of bewilderment.

[Expert Archery (Uncommon)] An Archer’s best friend is the bow in his hand and the arrow in his foe’s heart. You have proven yourself an expert with your chosen weapon and is fast approaching the level of mastering your craft. Adds a small bonus to the effect of Agility and Strength when using a ranged weapon.

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[Archery of Vast Horizons (Rare)] - An Archer’s best friend is the bow in his hand and the arrow in his foe’s heart. Unsatisfied with merely becoming an expert, you have sought beyond mastering common bowmanship, and do not shy away from using magic to enhance your technique. You seek to cross all horizons with your arrows, and your target shall be pierced, no matter the distance, no matter the means. Adds a small bonus to the effect of Agility and Strength when using a ranged weapon. Adds a small damage bonus to all arrows based on distance traveled and Perception.

He was bewildered… was all it took really just to shoot a long distance to get a skill with a weird name? It didn’t just upgrade from ‘expert’ to ‘master’ or something like that. Instead, it changed direction.

Not that he was complaining. The skill was objectively better in every way as it added a damage bonus based on distance and perception. It also said damage bonus and not that it increased the effectiveness of his stats, which meant it likely worked like his Mark of the Ambitious Hunter.

Was it because he had reached some level of understanding of how the Mark did its damage? Was it because he had killed a D-grade while only in E-grade himself with his long-range archery? Was it because he used a plethora of different skills besides usual archery?

It even mentioned using magic to enhance his archery… did he really do that? Infused Powershot was technically magic… so was Blood of the Malefic Viper if you thought a bit about it. The arrows generated from Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter to be used against the Storm Elemental also clearly carried elements of his mana control, and he doubted it would be as strong as it was if he hadn’t practiced mana manipulations and making those mana bolts as much as he had.

The usage of the word ‘vast’ was also weird. Why not distant horizons? Sure, one could argue that vast included distance, but it also included breadth. Was it talking about how diverse his archery was?

He had to admit it wasn’t just regular archery anymore… even from a post-system perspective. He actively integrated Gaze of the Apex Hunter to strike harder, used arrows highly reliant on his abilities as a mana-user and everything from his profession.

Jake stood in thought as he considered the skill. Ultimately it was just a straight-up upgrade, so it was good, and now his perception would prove even more useful. Especially the first strike with Infused Powershot would be stronger… because he really needed it to be.

Closing his system menus in satisfaction, he felt like he was forgetting something. Turning his gaze towards the cloud continent, he saw that the birds were all gathering towards where he killed the Storm Elemental, almost as if they were searching for som-

“SHIT! THE ORB!” Jake yelled out loud as he took flight towards the island. Damn you, fortunate skill upgrade, for distracting me!

He was flying desperately forward as he tried to keep an eye on what was happening in the distance. He saw the birds chase a Lightning Roc that had stolen it, but soon a group of Flare Crows attacked it and managed to burn it before one of the large vultures dove in, smashing its talons into the Lightning Roc.

Jake just kept flapping his wings as he tried to get closer. He tried to use Gaze of the Apex Hunter once in a while to try and stop the bird that he assumed had the Orb as he got closer at a pace far slower than he would have liked.

Miranda sat in the newly constructed longhouse with Hank, Neil with his party, and a few of Abby’s former goons.

The last few days had been very fruitful for the city with the influx of 50 or so new citizens. Granted, it was a bit skewed on the gender-ratio with only five women in total: herself, Eleanor, Christen, Louise, and the scarred woman.

the people inside the house currently

believe it’s safe to

to… a few tried to run that night to try and enter the fort, but they were all killed,” the woman explained. “We quite frankly don’t know anything about them… but they

as she took in the

chase Neil and his friends had proven quite

of a few larger human settlements. Around 20 kilometers outside the forest, a total of 130 or so kilometers, a large settlement was called ‘the fort.’ The reason for that was simple, as it was an old medieval fort before the system. The tourist trap was now being used with its original intent in mind as many had taken refuge

challenges. Ignoring all the usual

to attract experience-hungry beasts. It did raise the issue of why no beast ever dared enter the area of their Pylon, but Miranda just assumed it had something to do with

it was the Pylon’s owner?

come to the forest with them. But there were many risks and unknown factors associated with that, and they quite frankly didn’t feel comfortable making

weren’t even 60 people. And while Neil and his party were powerful, they didn’t believe that they could ensure any semblance of

had a feeling it would be okay. Not because of any skills, though. Her Intuition skill had recently upgraded to rare-rarity and become more specialized towards city management. Annoyingly so, it included better knowing the owner’s intent, yet it didn’t do jack shit even if it said it did.

in the forest, with Hank taking the lead in the project. The man was growing in levels quite fast and seemed to enjoy himself. Louise helped him and had even managed to evolve her profession to some kind of architect.

construction industry, and Miranda was more than happy for them to do that. And the first thing they

with the lodge in it would be entirely off-limits for anyone but the owner himself and Miranda when she needed to contact him. Miranda still remembered that he disliked people staring at him while he worked, and she had a strong feeling that he would like his

valley but still more than well within the Pylon of Civilization’s domain. They only built to the south side, away from the cliff with the

the Pylon expanded the area in a circular area? No, not at all, but it wasn’t like they needed space. With less than 60 people total, they

one for men and one for women. Again, the longhouse for women wasn’t really a pressing issue yet due to there only being a handful

of the area they were building. They had purposefully left most trees standing, making everything covered by the canopy of the trees and giving off a very relaxing

her death, her leadership profession’s effect faded, and a lot of the suppressed mental strain came forth.

have to

rudimentary questions. Mainly about things they had done and wrongs they had committed, as well as confirming that

the owner… but the response there

think badly of him. The reason was that he had killed Abby…

indomitable power that allowed her to

their minds, they had just seen an even larger pinnacle crushing her. All of their fear and – as much as they hated to admit it – respect of her power had been

almost fearful in front of Miranda… the only different one was the scarred woman. Maybe

for the owner’s return, and then if we can convince him to help us, we make contact with the fort?” Miranda asked, summing up their circular discussion,

dismissed them from their small meeting. Hank already knew what to do when it came to building things, and Neil and his comrades were also working hard on their respective professions these days. They all appeared

that they would soon like to go out hunting. Something they didn’t really feel comfortable doing before the